Acute heart failure is a cardiac condition in which a problem with the structure or function of the heart impairs its ability to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body's needs. The condition impairs quality of life and is a leading cause of hospitalizations and mortality in the western world. Treating acute heart failure is typically aimed at removal of precipitating causes, prevention of deterioration in cardiac function, and control of congestive state.
Treatments for acute heart failure include the use of inotropic agents, such as dopamine and dobutamine. These agents, however, have both chronotropic and inotropic effects and characteristically increase heart contractility at the expense of significant increments in oxygen consumption secondary to elevations in heart rate. As a result, although these inotropic agents increase myocardial contractility and improve hemodynamics, clinical trials have consistently demonstrated excess mortality caused by cardiac arrhythmias and increase in the myocardium consumption.
As such, there is a need for selectively and locally treating acute heart failure and otherwise achieving hemodynamic control without causing unwanted systemic effects.